The number one rule of ranking was based on colour. 

Just like how the hair colour of a person determined their talents and position in this world, the same went for the colour of their energies. 

The purity of 'mana' or 'force' was determined by how light the shade was. 

Thomas's force was blue, hinting at the highest rate of purity in force.

The tint of pink meant the force was the purest version of it. 

While Jack's mana was grey, cloudy grey, the most impure form of mana.

Red alongside it pointed to his mana having a destabilized connection with it's yielder. 

"I see—your apparition—and the mana says it all!"

Thomas exclaimed in wonder, lifting his sword with a small smirk plastered to his sharp face. 

"To get this far with such disadvantages, I truly underestimated you." 

The words of his held weight as he admitted to Jack's strength. 

Shia frowned at the situation. 

She was one of his long-time friends, and she knew him better than most. 

And seeing the tall and proud General admit to something clearly sparked an interest in her... especially at the man being praised. 

"Well... I guess everything worked out just fine." 

Daniela's eyebrows flickered at the dust. 

She had gained more than she had hoped to with this little plan of hers. 

Calling it a plan would be a far stretch. 

It was far from her intentions. 

She had only originally intended the principal to meet with Jack—Jonathan Thorne, but the developments that occured were far more beneficial, for her and for everyone. 

"Sister."

A small hand tugged at the sleeves of her pristine white shirt. 

"...who is this man?"

Gabriel with his deep blue eyes looked up at her. 

From his appearance, he truly looked like the child version of the Emperor, Daniela thought. 

"He is—"

She threw Wyge a quick glance, hinting at her to fill Gabriel in. 

"Young Lord."

She spoke up. 

Gabriel shifted his eyes over to Wyge. 

"The one and only Manakai in our continent—"

"—Jonathan Thorne." 

Finn mumbled to himself, standing at the opposite side from the Princess. 

"How did you differentiate him from a mage?" 

"Hm?" 

Daniela made a small mumble at his words. 

'Oh! That is a valid question indeed, how do they?'

She thought. 

She did not have an answer to it, once again shifting her eyes over to Wyge. 

Wyge ever the observant one, picked on her cue, filling him in. 

"Each path produces a different aura, for example a 'knight', or a 'martial artist' such as The General," her eye fall on the man preparing for battle, "have a different aura around him from us mages." 

"So, does the man over there have a different aura?" 

Gabriel pointed at the brown haired man standing in the opposite side of The General. 

"Yes, you could say it's a mix between us mages, and knights."

Her eyes shift once again, falling on Jack. 

"Are you just going to stand there, Mister Jonathan?" 

Thomas said his name, but his tone was overjoyed, unlike the disdain he had openly showed earlier. 

"I do not like making the first move, General." 

"Hoho, so you knew who I was?" 

With a small chuckle, he asked. 

"Of course. Silver hair, ruby like eyes, and the insignia of the 'Tara Knights'."

His eyes went over to the small embroidery of a star with two swords crossing each other on the General's left shoulder. 

"If you're that shy, I suppose I'll make the first move." 

Wiping the smile off his face, Thomas leapt forward. 

—Bam

Sparks flared in the air as the sword made contact with the red barrier. 

Twisting his sword, he pulled it up vertically. 

Cracks of white like spider web plagued the red barrier, tearing it apart. 

Now that the barrier was undone, he widened his stance, thrusting the sword at Jack. 

"Chains." 

Jack said calmly despite the sword threatening to strike him down. 

Two circles with writings appeared besides Thomas. 

From it, single chains shot out, wrapping itself around the sword, bringing it to a complete halt, right before his face. 

"You forgot about him." 

Thomas shot his eyes up, indicating how the apparition still had a sword and could strike him down. 

At his words, the apparition moved to end the battle. 

"Focus, Spell stack, Model configuration complete~Magic Lance, 5x."

The apparition above Jack brought its palm together. 

Then it continued to take it apart by a few inches. 

A small similar circle as from the chains appeared between its palms. 

"This is!" 

Letting go of the sword, Thomas punched Jack's abdomen. 

Quickly noticing the frontal assault, Jack clenched his abdomen, taking full brunt of the punch. 

—Cough cough 

He wheezed against the punch, but Thomas's attempts at stopping the spell failed. 

An arrow formed, launching out at Thomas's apparition, tearing through it. 

Regaining his grip on the chained sword, he channel his force into it, cutting the chains apart, and aiming for Jack once again, only this time it was faster. 

"Jester's Grand Escape!"

—Whoosh 

The energy filled sword went on, cleaving through the air. 

Thomas's eyes landed on Jack standing a few feet away from him. 

"Martial Intent~Moonlit Garden." 

At Thomas's words, the area around him transformed. 

Lush blue flowers grew in the sand while blue particles fell around them, covering the area. 

Although it seemed as if real flowers had blossomed, it was all nothing but the result of his intention being pushed. 

A Martial Intent was the manifestation of one's will, intent, using force as a source of energy. 

Thomas brought up his hand, snapping at the air. 

The small sound revebrated around him without any changes, visibly. 

But then, the particles floating around in the air all met up at certain pointed in the air. 

They merged and grew, until five large spheres, all looming around Jack. 

The spheres seemed to be atleast more than a metre in diameter, standing seven to eight feet away from the ground. 

"A Martial Intent? Aren't you going at it a bit too much, General?" 

His fingers coiled up around his palms, rounding up into a fist.  

"It's only natural I go all out against a respectable opponent." 

He stressed the words out towards the end. 

—Whir!

The pressure around Jack grew large. 

He grunted against the force threatening to pull him apart, gritting his teeth. 

What was happening? 

The effects of his Martial Intent. 

Gravitational pull was being exuded from each of the blue spheres around Jack. 

Just as the name had suggested, each sphere was meant to represent the moon. 

And just like the moon, they had exuded a gravitational pull. 

Now that he was getting pulled from each sides, Jack could not withdraw like before. 

'What will you do now?' 

A small wry and unforgiving smile took over Shia's visage. 

The smile was almost contorting her beautiful face. 

It was a common habit of hers to flash an unsightly smile in times of happiness, pleasure, or exhilaration. 

'Eugh!' 

Daniela made an inner remark at the smile. 

However, her eyes were taken off Shia at Jack's words. 

"Iron Mountain~Four Corner Prison!" 

The words came out strained. 

He was under the pressure of getting pulled from five different sides. 

However at his words, four large red prison cells barred around Thomas, closing him in. 

Thomas tried to look out, but his vision was obstructed by the bars, along with the red tint that covered it. 

The insides of the prison cell was almost as large as a normal room. 

Thomas paused for a second looking around. 

"I can still feel my technique outsides." 

His eyes sharpened over to the front. 

"It doesn't seem like I got cut off from outside, however..."

Looking at the bars, he noticed it would be rather tough to simply smash through it. 

"...I guess I'll—"

The next words he wanted to utter never came out. 

"Fucker!" 

The vile curse was all that he could make out, while his expression twisted to one of fear and surprise. 

A single drop of sweat trickled down his temple, while his forehead wrinkled. 

"He made a construct similar to my intent? No, that's impossible—he copied the essence of my arts!"

Mages manipulated mana to create constructs, but analysing and applying that into construction in a short amount of time was a very difficult task. 

That is why Thomas had ruled it out. 

Since Manakai were hybrids of the mage and the martial path, the moon like figure descending on him was not the result of a spell, but rather a martial intent. 

But how could Jack's martial intent have the same effect as Thomas's? 

Even he did not know the answer to it. 

"It doesn't seem to have a gravitational force. He copied the bare appearance rather than the whole thing." 

Looking up, he noticed the red sphere resembling the moon had been getting closer to the ground. 

Closer to him. 

'I cannot avoid it, since its taking over the entire space.'

Raising his word right above his head and holding it up with both his hands. 

The air around him shimmered slightly, before catching fire. 

The ground on fire, manifested blooming flowers. 

The tip of the flowers held pick hues, similar to Thomas's force. 

Outside, Jack still under the pressure bit his lips hard. 

"Tch!"

He bit his lips hard. 

A small drop of blood trickled down his mouth, sliding all the way over to his sharp chin, streaking the path in red. 

"Code activate!" 

He clasped his hands together, forming a handsign. 

Handsigns were ways of controlling energy flows alongside incantations. 

Closing all his fingers except the index and middle finger which stood up straight, he continued. 

"5x stack, Code formation, Spell overload, Stack code, Course control, Deflection control." 

Taking off his palms, he held them out to his sides, closing his eyes. 

Another circle of words and symmetrical symbols appeared between the hands of his apparition. 

"The lance of the Monarchs, I seek to move the immovable, from the far ends of Nine-Realms~Gungir."

A large grey spearhead exited from the circle. 

The much larger spear exited from the circle, shooting out with a large bang sound. 

The large lance like weapon shot straight through the first moon ahead of Jack.  

But instead of going straight, it curved after a few feet, heading for the second moon. 

—Baam!

It continued to shatter through the moons, before disappearing into dust. 

—Boom!

At the same time, the prison cell shattered into a million piece as Thomas exited the enclosed space. 

"That was quite fun, Mister—huh?"

His eyes searched for his opponent, but he was nowhere to be seen. 

"Back to your old habits again, Mister Jonathan?" 

"Hey, Thomas!" 

Shia called out to him. 

"He's there on the fucking ground!" 

She pointed to Jack laying flat on the ground.

He had fainted from overexerting himself. 

"Oh!"

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